The Evaluation That Matters

Transcript

GR 1307
10-23-05
The Evaluation that Matters
I Corinthians 4:1-5
Gil Rugh

We're going to be in I Corinthians 4 in your Bibles, I Corinthians 4. Paul has been instructing the church at Corinth regarding problems in that church, and the problems he's dealing with are those of division and quarrels. These divisions and quarrels center around personalities in the church. It's not a doctrinal issue, it is a personality issue, and the church has been divided by focusing on key leaders. Paul has talked about them, like Apollos, Cephas, who is Peter, and himself. And he's talked about the attitude they ought to have toward their leaders and the role that God intends them to play. You know Paul wrote to the church at Rome and he reminded them in Romans 12:2 not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the making new of their minds. And that will enable us to know the will of God.

And what happens often to the church is that it begins to allow the world to shape its thinking and then to shape its practice and conduct. The church at Corinth had begun to adopt the world's way of thinking. The world's pattern is to find key, powerful men who are able to get it done, and then build around them. And the church at Corinth was following that kind of thinking. Well, here's a teacher who is wonderful, here is a leader who is especially effective and I really like him. And so the church has divided around these kind of issues, being shaped by the world's thinking. We like to think that doesn't happen to us, but remember the church at Corinth is only about 5 years old. The Apostle Paul poured 18 months of his life into that church, and already it has begun to drift away from a biblical mindset and a biblical way of thinking.

We looked in our last study at the end of chapter 3, and let me just remind you of what Paul said that will lead into what he says in the first 5 verses of chapter 4. Because we're going to have a chapter break at chapter 4, but we don't have any change in subject matter. In verses 16-17, and we're going to walk through these verses and I'll just highlight what's in them. 1) The local church is God's temple, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, verse 16 of chapter 3. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? Remember now he's talking about the local church, he's not talking about the body of the believer. In I Corinthians 6 he'll use the analogy of the temple indwelt by the Holy Spirit to refer to the physical body of a Christian, but here he is talking to the local church at Corinth. They as the church are the temple of God, it's the place where the Holy Spirit of God dwells. 2) Anyone who destroys the temple will himself be destroyed, verse 17. If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. Now if you remember the preceding context in chapter 3, Paul was talking in the analogy or metaphor about workmen being used to construct a building. And the picture was Jesus Christ is the foundation of the church, and then God's workmen are contributing to the building of the building on the foundation, the construction of the church at Corinth and the responsibility of the workmen who would be accountable to God. And if those workmen did not use quality materials in their ministry in the church at Corinth, verse 15 tells us, if any man's work is burned up he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. It is possible that there will be pastors, leaders, teachers who minister in the church, but they didn't use quality materials. And at the judgment seat of Christ, all their labors will be burned up. But they will be saved, but they will suffer the loss of rewards. And the quality materials have to do with those things consistent with the truth that God has revealed, the truth concerning the finished work of Christ on the cross, the message of the gospel, and the revelation of God and His Word, as we're going to talk about a little later.

In light of that, you ought to understand that even though some workmen will labor and end up with no rewards, they'll still be saved. But according to verse 17 there are some within the church, leaders and teachers, who are working to destroy the church and they are on their way to destruction. And as we noted, Paul makes no attempt to make a distinction between the two kinds of workers—those who will suffer loss but be saved, and those who destroy the church and will be destroyed. How can I tell the difference? Paul doesn't attempt to draw out the comparison. It reinforces his warning at the end of verse 10 of chapter 3, each man must be careful how he builds on the foundation. And I can't always tell whether a person is just a workman using inferior materials, or is a workman laboring to destroy the church. There is a serious warning here, that within the church at Corinth there is the danger that some of those who are respected leaders and teachers who have departed from the purity of the ministry of God's Word to the using of man's wisdom are really unregenerate men who become agents of the devil to destroy the church. And the question always comes, do they know it? I don't have the answer to that either. Some do, some don't. Matthew 7, Jesus said on the judgment day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not do many might works in your name? And He'll say, depart from me, cursed ones. I never knew you. They never did belong to Him. So strong warning. The ministry in the church is serious business, and there will be strict accounting.

3) The church is holy, the end of verse 17. For the temple of God is holy and that is what you are. Now note, the church at Corinth, remember, is called a fleshly church at the start of chapter 3. It's going to have a variety of problems—immorality in chapter 5, lawsuits in chapter 6, and on it goes. But they were the temple of God, they were holy, they were holy at the church at Corinth because the Spirit of God dwells there. Now they weren't everything they should be in manifesting what their character is as the church of God, but the church of God is holy. Now you may mar that holiness, you may attack that holiness, but the church of God founded on the truth of Jesus Christ is holy and must be dealt with carefully. It's an awesome thing to be part of the church of Jesus Christ. We take it casually, just like it was another organization, just like it's another club. The church of God is holy. That ought to be what people think of as they think of this local church. It's a holy place. Not this building, as we talked about, but this group of people called together as the church in this place. You are holy.

4) There is no compromise between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God. Look at verse 18, let no man deceive himself. Now note this, this is in the context of the warning he has just given in verse 16-17, let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks he is wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he may become wise. Anyone who thinks he can use the wisdom of the world to build the church of God is tragically, tragically mistaken. The wisdom of the world is unalterably opposed to the wisdom of God. And when we think we have developed some kind of proper mix of the world's wisdom and God's wisdom so that we can have ministries that have greater impact and are attractive to greater numbers of people, we need to take the warning carefully, that we are not among those who are destroying the church. As far as I can tell, the most effective or most successful, humanly speaking, church in the New Testament is the church at Laodicea. It's the church that humanly speaking when you look at it didn't need everything, it had everything and was at the top of its game, so to speak. And Jesus said, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth, I can't stomach you. You cannot wed the wisdom of man to the wisdom of God, you cannot use the wisdom of the world to build the church. I'm not saying you can't use worldly wisdom to build a large group, but the more of the world's wisdom you are using, the more of either worthless materials you're using that will bring no reward, or the more you are guilty of working to destroy a local church. You have to become foolish as the world would see you, so you can adopt God's wisdom.

5) The world's wisdom is foolish and useless in the work of God. Look at verses 19-20, the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. How can I as a servant of the living God take that which God says is foolish and say I'm going to use it to do His work. And think that I am becoming wiser in the doing of it. He supports what he says with two quotes from the Old Testament, one is from the book of Job and one from the book of Psalms. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, and then he quotes from Job. He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness, and worldly wisdom doesn't make them more successful. It just results in their own destruction. It's like the animal who thinks it's clever, but the hunter is using even the cleverness of that animal to lure it into the trap. Then again the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise that they are useless.

You know, I don't know how to emphasize it strongly enough. The reasoning, the way the world thinks is useless before God. It has nothing of value to offer to us in building the church of Jesus Christ. How can men be writing books today to instruct the church on how to draw the wisdom of the world and mix it in with the spiritual ministry of God's truth so that you have a greater ministry. A catastrophe.

6) Lastly, verse 21, there must be no boasting in men. Why? Everything belongs to us because we belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. So why would we focus on Paul or Apollos of Peter? They're just servants down here as those who do the work of the Lord. We belong to the Lord Himself. Why exalt the servant? Why focus on men? It is God who is at work. I belong to the living God, why would I become identified with a specific party? Look back in John 17. This is Jesus' high priestly prayer where He prays for His followers on the last night before His betrayal. And if you go into chapter 18 after chapter 17 Jesus is betrayed in the Garden. In John 17:9, He prays to the Father, I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom you have given Me, for they are yours. And all things that are Mine are yours, and yours are Mine, and I have been glorified in them. You see all that the Father has given to Christ belong also to the Father, for Christ belongs to the Father. And all that belonged to the Father belonged to Christ, and we belong to Christ, and we belong to the Father. Look at verse 20, I do not ask on behalf of these alone, these immediate disciples, but for those who believe in Me through their word, that they all may be one, even as you, Father, are in Me and I in you, that they may also be in us. So that the world may believe that you sent Me. The glory which you have given Me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them, you in Me, that they may be perfected in unity. So that the world may know that you have sent Me and loved them even as you loved Me. I desire that they also whom you have given Me be with Me where I am, that they may see My glory which you have given Me. Basically what Paul is talking about, we belong to Christ. This is not something that is often referred to as though this is what the church ought to be doing. The unity has been accomplished, just like the holiness. This church is holy, it's the dwelling place of the Spirit of God. This church has unity because that unity has been produced by the work of Jesus Christ. He's brought Jew and Gentile together in one body. Paul would write to the Ephesians in Ephesians 2. This is the work that God has done. We belong to Him, we dwell in Him.

Come back to I Corinthians. In light of this Paul is going to, in the first 5 verses of chapter 4, reiterate what he has just said in chapter 2 in summary fashion—the leaders, the teachers that God has provided for the church at Corinth are servants, and they are accountable to their master who will ultimately judge them. So he keeps things in perspective. Look at how chapter 4 begins, let a man regard us in this matter. Remember the problem in the church at Corinth was division around certain prominent leaders. Back in chapter 1 verse 11, I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chole's people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, I am of Christ. And the question, has Christ been divided? I mean how can the church of God, brought together in Jesus Christ, now be divided around certain popular leaders and teachers? Has Christ been divided? You haven't become my disciple, have you? You've become a disciple of Jesus Christ, right? You don't belong to me, you belong to Him, and so on. That's Paul's point.

So when we come to chapter 4 verse 1, let a man regard us in this manner. Here's how you ought to think of us. The “us” goes back to verse 22 of chapter 3, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas. No matter who you are talking about, here's how you think about leaders in the church—servants of Christ. Now back in chapter 3 verse 5, what then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed. Now he repeats the same thing. He uses a different word for servant, but the emphasis is the same. A servant is one who is under the authority of a master. To that extent he doesn't have a mind or a will of his own, he is responsible to do what his master instructs. Not to be an original thinker, not to come up with his own plans, but to do what he is instructed to do. So you have two different words for servants used basically to make the same point. We are servants.

He's going to use a third word in a moment. We're servants, servants, servants. No matter what word you want to use, we are servants. What is wrong in the church at Corinth that they are gathering around different servants who are under the authority of one master? Regard us as servants. And what do you mean by servants? Well servants who have a given responsibility, they are stewards, stewards. Now the steward is another servant. The steward was a manager of a household, a slave or servant who had been given the responsibility to take care of the master's household.

Turn back to Luke 12. And here Christ is warning them about how they ought to be living in light of His return. Verse 37, I don't want to develop the whole context here, but, blessed are those slaves who the master will find on the alert when he comes. And then come down to verse 42, the Lord said, who then is the faithful and sensible steward? There is our word. How should you think of us as servants? Stewards of the mysteries of God, as stewards. Now the word steward is a compound word, comes from the word house and the word law—house law. It's the house manager. Sensible steward whom his master will put in charge of his servants to give them their rations at the proper time. Blessed is that slave who his master finds doing when he comes. So you see the responsibility of the steward, he's put in charge of the household, he represents the master in his absence. That doesn't mean now he's free to rule as the boss of the house. His responsibility is to do what the master entrusted him to do, seeing that the rations are given to the other servants so that they can do their responsibility. And then he will be held accountable when he returns.

Turn over to I Timothy, toward the back of your New Testament, I Timothy 3. Paul tells Timothy why he is writing to him on this occasion, the letter of I Timothy. I Timothy 3:15, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. So you see here the church is called God's household. Paul says I am just a servant given responsibility as a steward in God's house. And you'll note in the context here, while you're in I Timothy 3:15, the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. God's household, the church, is to be about His truth. The church, its focus is truth, the truth that God has revealed.

Now you come back to I Corinthians 4. We are to be regarded as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Servants who have been entrusted with a stewardship, the household responsibility. And that has to do with the mysteries of God. Remember mysteries, they are those things which have been revealed by God, they have not prior been known before, but now they have been revealed. Back up to chapter 2 verse 7. Verse 6, Paul says, we do speak wisdom, but it's not the wisdom of this world. I Corinthians 2:7, we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, God's wisdom being a mystery— the full truth concerning Christ and His work on the cross, the salvation that He has provided, and the completeness of that redemption through His death and resurrection. That's something that hadn't before been revealed. We say what about the Old Testament passages like Isaiah 53. We talked about this when we did chapter 2. Well there is revelation there but it wasn't full and complete. Remember I Peter 1 says that even the Old Testament prophets didn't understand that revelation. They couldn't put together how could the Messiah suffer and die and at the same time the Messiah rule and reign. But now the fullness of God's plan has been made known. We speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory, wisdom which none of the rulers of this age understood, because verse 9 says, you don't come to a knowledge of this wisdom by human means. But it's revealed, verse 10, by the Spirit of God. And the focus of what Paul is talking about is the truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified that he's talked about in chapter 2 verse 2.

Paul says as servants of God we have been given the stewardship of the mysteries of God, the truth that He has revealed, particularly the truth concerning Christ. So our responsibility is to give out those rations, if you will, to see that that truth is dispensed to the church. This is crucial. This reveals what is the purpose and plan of God for leaders in this church. Paul will write to Timothy and tell him that the things that Timothy has learned from Paul in the presence of faithful witnesses, you take that truth and teach it to faithful men who will teach others also. That's the ongoing ministry that we have, that apostolic truth is passed on from generation to generation to generation, because the leaders in the church are servants entrusted with a stewardship of truth. And that's what the emphasis Paul wants them to understand. You don't divide around these servants, they're stewards. My role is to give you the truth of God.

One person wrote it this way, no matter how extensive the powers of the steward, they are not the owners of the treasures of truth and grace that are entrusted to them. As they administer these treasures they must remain aware of their dependency and the accounting they will give. What it means to be a servant of Christ is to be obligated to promote the gospel by word and example, the gospel of the crucified Messiah. You know we have turned the church away from the wisdom of God to the wisdom of the world. You know what the prime characteristic that churches, evangelical churches, look for in men now? Instead of servants they want managers, they want dynamic leaders, men who know how to work with people and make things happen. That's what the world looks for in leaders, right? That's why there becomes a blending. And some of those who write books for the church also give secular management lectures. Because we've just taken the wisdom of the world and brought it into the church and now we think that we're building the church because it grows numerically, when we in effect may be destroying the church. God's plan for His leaders is that they dispense His truth. That's the ministry that's entrusted with them. What do we do if the leaders no longer know what they are to do? The church at Corinth is confused. They are rallying around these men who had taught truth, not because there were differences in the truth taught by Peter and Paul and Apollos, but because they liked certain of these leaders more than others. They've got the kind of personality that I like, I can related to him better, and on as we've talked about. Paul says you need to understand, we're just servants, just stewards. What a tragedy it would be if Paul hadn't known what his job was. Pretty soon he would be competing with Peter to be more popular.

Look back in the book of Acts, Acts 20:17. Paul has called for the elders of the church at Ephesus. Now he is dealing with the leaders from the church at Ephesus. They're meeting him as he travels nearby in Miletus. Look at verse 20, Paul talks about his ministry and when he was there. I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. What's he doing? He's a steward of the mysteries of God. I taught it in public settings, I went into homes. But I only did one thing—dispensed the truth that God has revealed, the truth concerning Jesus Christ and the need to believe in Him.

Verse 24, I do not consider my life of any account, as dear to myself so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to solemnly testify of the gospel of the grace of God. I mean it's a servant. If I have to I'll give my life to do what my master has instructed me to do. To testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. Verse 26, therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. My hands are clean. Doesn't talk about how big the church at Ephesus had grown under his ministry, doesn't talk about how it had expanded, doesn't talk about how it influenced the city. My responsibility wasn't to be influential, my responsibility wasn't to be successful as the world would view it, my responsibility wasn't to grow in popularity so that I would be in demand as a speaker. I declared to you the whole counsel of God, I declared to you what God had revealed. That was my role as a servant, a steward.

Now he tells them, you be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Now the responsibility has been passed to you elders to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. And you know what? Some of those who would destroy the church in the analogy of the building, here are used as the analogy of sheep and wolves. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. From among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be on the alert, verse 32, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among those who are sanctified. Your ministry is the Word, I commend you to that Word. They are to carry on that apostolic ministry, and the truth they learned from him, they are to teach to faithful men who will teach others also. They are stewards of the mysteries of God. The church must understand what it is, otherwise we adopt the world's wisdom because they know how to franchise hamburgers, they know how to franchise coffee shops, they how to build computer businesses. And the focus is on the leader, he becomes everything. So we pay them hundreds of millions of dollars because what would this business be without them. What would happen to this business if something happened to them, and if something does happen to them, the key is we have to find another dynamic, powerful leader who knows how to get it done? Not the way God does it. He went out and recruited fishermen who are at a loss of what to do, and ultimately are entrusted with His grace. And He takes the Apostle Paul who was well trained, entrusts him with the gospel, tells him to give up all his wisdom. And Paul says everything that was of value to me I put on the dung heap, his testimony in Philippians 3. Because that's not what makes me effective in the service of the Lord, that all had to go. And I come to Corinth, not because I have the background and the world's wisdom to be able to confront the worldly city of Corinth, I come to the city of Corinth as though I never knew anything to this day, except the cross of Christ, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

So back to I Corinthians 4. That’s all that I am. I'm a servant, a steward of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. What's the #1 quality he looks for in a steward? We read about it in Luke 12, that you do what you're told, that the master finds you worthy of his trusty, trustworthy, faithful, you did what he told you to do. Oh, Lord, look what I did. I know you entrusted me with your truth, but the culture in which we live wasn't really interested in truth. And we had to minister to the boomers and the busters and the breakers and whatever they are, and we lived in a postmodern day and absolute truth was a turn-off. So, Lord, look what I built. Well wait a minute. What are you? You understand you weren't an entrepreneur, you were a servant entrusted with a stewardship. I instructed you how to take care of my house, not how to go and build your own. That's why it's required of a steward that he be found trustworthy. We think we find something when we find men who can be creative, men who have this kind of skill and that kind of skill. We're looking for men who can be trustworthy, who can be trusted with God's truth. That they won't add to it, they won't take away from it, they won't modify it. They will simply give it out, pass it on as it was given. That will be the measure of a steward’s ministry.

One put it this way. What is sought in stewards is faithfulness, that they may be trustworthy, worthy of the trust that has been placed in their care. Not eloquence, not wisdom, nor initiative, nor success, but faithfulness to the trust is what God requires of his servants. For Paul this means absolute fidelity to the gospel as he received it and preached it. In one sense I have the simplest job on the planet—here's the truth that has been passed on to you, now pass it on exactly as it's been given. As Paul would write to Timothy, preach the Word in season and out of season. Lord, what if it's not what is in today? Preach the Word. What if they're flocking and breaking down the doors to get in when I'm preaching the Word? Preach the Word. And remember, you're just a servant. I'm causing the growth and everybody else needs to remember that, too, in the church.

Verse 3, Paul gets to the point. But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you. Let's put this in perspective. I could care less what you think of my ministry. Let me tell you, it doesn't make one bit of difference what you think of my ministry. Now you have to be careful when you're dealing with the Word of God, that you don't take one statement and............ You know, people's favorite verse today is judge not that you be not judged out of Matthew 7. They don't bother to read five more verses and find out Christ instructs them to judge a matter. So I have to be careful I handle a passage correctly. In the context Paul is talking about his ministry and what his ministry is, and he is a servant and he is a steward. If that is true, whose servant is he? Verse 1, servants of Christ, given a responsibility to dispense the truth of God.

So in light of that, Paul tells the church at Corinth, it really doesn't matter to me what you think of me. It doesn't really matter to me whether you think I am a better leader, a more likable person than Peter, whether you would rate me as more effective than Apollos, or less effective. It just doesn't matter what you think, because I am a servant of Christ. The servant is responsible to his master. Now Paul will talk about his accountability as we move through the letter to the Corinthians, and there are areas where we are accountable to one another. But the ultimate accountability we deal with in our ministry, my ultimate accountability is not to you, it is to God. There is a realm in which I am accountable to the board of this church and so on, and they are responsible for my ministry, but in the ultimate sense I stand or fall on the evaluation of Jesus Christ. Right? That's what counts. As soon as I lose track of that I will begin to take into account, what do they think of me, will they like me, will they come back if I preach this, will I be thought successful if this happens? And now I'm in a popularity contest, trying to compare myself with someone else, and my ministry with someone else's ministry, and what people think of me and how they evaluate me becomes the standard. And the church begins to get confused on that. They think their evaluation of Paul versus Peter versus Apollos means something. It means nothing. These are all three men preaching the same truth. The only one whose opinion matters is the one who is the master.

And that includes any human court, Paul says, not just you. Human evaluation is not significant. That translation human court literally says human day, and it's a play on the emphasis that he talked about the coming day when Christ will judge in chapter 3 verse 13. Each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it, the day when Christ exercises His judgment. That's the only day of judgment that matters to me, human day............ So playing that off, a reminder—human evaluations are nothing. If I am a servant who is a steward in the house and a couple of the other servants say we really like you, you're the one we want to follow, we're going to identify with you, we think you're the most effective, most successful. I'd say, I'm a successful servant, and the master comes and says, you are an unfaithful servant, all the other evaluations are immediately nothing. Right? And if they don't like the way I do my serving and the master comes and says, well done, good and faithful servant, their opinion is nothing. Right? It's putting perspective for the church. For the Corinthians, and this will come out clearly as we move through chapter 4, their problem is pride and arrogance. They think their opinion really means something. What stupidity. As though the fact that they picked this leader and another group picked this leader and another group picked ............. This is something. It's nothing.

It's a very small thing that I should be examined by you or any human court. And again, this doesn't mean that Paul has developed a thick skin and is indifferent to what other people think, but there is only one ultimate standard that has to be met, only one person that has to be pleased. In fact, I do not even examine myself. Now again there will be times when Paul does talk about examining himself, but we have to put this in the right context. You know what? My evaluation of my ministry doesn't even make any difference. If I think I'm really doing a good job and I'm quite effective, and I'm pretty pleased with how things go. And the Lord comes and on that day I stand before Him and He is displeased, what difference does my opinion make? Absolutely none. And if I don't think, and I think this just isn't going well, I really ought to do something else. Just do what you're told. I remind myself of that, just do what you're told. You're entrusted with the truth, give out the truth. Lord, this isn't going well. I didn't ask for your opinion, I just told you to do what you're told. Give out the truth. Paul said I don't examine myself. How did he get by? How did he not end up just dragging bottom? Everybody is complaining, he gets run out of town here and he gets run out of town there, he causes a riot here, the church at Corinth is giving him heartaches, the church here has problems, the church there has trouble, the Galatians are wandering. Lord, I just am not the most effective man. Don't even try to evaluate yourself. Introspection gets carried away. We think let's turn the light on inside and ............... There's a proper kind of evaluating. Am I being faithful with the Word? Am I being diligent with the truth? Am I laboring as I should labor as a servant of the Lord, those things I should be looking at. These are what He has instructed me to do, I want to be careful I'm following His instruction. But you know ultimately I can't evaluate. I can compare. My church is larger than theirs, I must be doing better. We found out that didn't matter, because God gives the growth. He's measuring the labor, He's measuring the quality of materials. My church is not as big, I must not be doing ................... I don't know, I can't tell.

I am conscious of nothing against myself, you always have to put in a qualifier, because if he doesn't people will think, he does have something he's hiding. Paul says, as far as I can tell, my conscience is clear. The ministry of God's truth, I'm doing what He has called me to do and I'm doing it the way He has called me to do it. That's all I can say. Yet I am not by this acquitted, justified, because I am not examined by you ultimately, I'm not examined by me ultimately. I'm examined by the Lord, the one who examines me is the Lord. That's not an out to get away from being responsible as he should, it's just the fact. You know I should have a clear conscience as I preach to you. But you know my conscience is not a reliable guide. I should not violate my conscience, but my conscience is not my guide. The truth is my guide. People have told me that their conscience was clear when they were doing things that were clearly in conflict with the Word. I've shared with you, those things happen. Someone sits in my office and been in an ongoing immoral relationship, a married man, and he says to me, I just know this is the Lord's will. My conscience is clear. Well you're wrong on both accounts. It's not the Lord's will, your conscience has been cauterized. I mean my conscience operates on the standard it's given, this changes. The church's thinking on many things changes, as the world changes, and we become more accustomed to it. Some of that is fine, some of it was just a tradition of the day and the tradition has changed. And so we think my conscience doesn't bother me. I know now that that is okay, my conscience doesn't bother me. But my conscience operates on the standard it's been given. We have more and more young people being sexually immoral, it becomes acceptable because everyone does it. Pretty soon consciences don't work like they should.

Paul says my conscience is my guide, I don't know anything against myself, but I'm not by this acquitted. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time. I mean the Corinthians were trying to set themselves in God's place, evaluating God's servants, comparing them, playing them off one against another. Do not go on passing judgment for the time. Wait until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts. You know the problem with human judgment, it can't be thorough. I can't even thoroughly examine myself, Paul says. I'm not acquitted because I look at myself and say, I don't know of anything. That doesn't mean I'm okay. When Jesus Christ does the judgments, He'll bring to light everything. He'll bring to light what motivated me. You know I could preach a great sermon that clearly unfolded the truth of God, but really what I was hope is that everyone would look at me as a great teacher of the Word. I was not motivated in that to bring as much glory to God through the preaching of the purity of His Word as I could, what I was really hoping is that people would understand I'm a better preacher than the preacher over here. And they would say, we like our preacher better than your preacher. And I've given them good reason. And God may use His truth, it is His truth, but in the judgment day it will be revealed for what it is. There is no reward in it for me, I didn't do it for the honor of the Lord, I did it for the honor of me. How are you going to judge that? We need to be careful. We sometimes say, I know what they did but I really know why they did it. You don't really know why they did it. That's really saying, I know what they did but I am God. We say, I would never say that. Well then how do you know why they did it? Well I don't really, but.................... But I would like to play God periodically. I can evaluate whether a man is teaching the Word, you can evaluate whether the Word is being taught. But ultimately you can't evaluate me because you don't know for sure why I'm teaching this sermon. God will bring it all to light. And that's true in every one of our lives.

Let me read you a few verses, we don't have time to turn to them, on this whole matter of God judging. I Samuel 16:7, God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart. Jeremiah 17:9, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. That's why even in examining myself I can't be sure that I have a really accurate examination of my heart. But Jeremiah 17:10 says, I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the mind, test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. You'll note, he will judge what has been done in light of what was in his heart and mind in the doing of it. Both the heart and the work are judged of God. Hebrews 4:12-13, for the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. Able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Now note, there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. To the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. He is the judge.

So Paul wrote to the Romans in Romans 2:16, he wrote about the day when according to my gospel God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. That's the ultimate day. There are certain levels of accountability we have to one another, I have to you and you have to me. But ultimate accountability for ministry is to the living God. There are responsibilities entrusted that can be measured, but we need to be careful. We are not those that evaluate the ministry of others. If they're being unfaithful to the truth, that must be dealt with. If they're not functioning morally as they should and in violation of scripture, that must be dealt with. We need to be careful about getting drawn into this personality cult that we act like is new to our day. Paul had to deal with it at the church in Corinth 2000 years ago, where we like this pastor, this preacher, this leader, this teacher. Doesn't mean we can't appreciate their ministry in our lives, but we ought to be careful about forming our own group, our own clique around the people. They are just servants, I'm just a servant. People say, what will happen to this church after you're gone? I don't know, God hasn't told me. You think God is going to be stuck? I better have Gil live to be 150 because what would happen to the church without him? I cringe when people say that for fear that the Lord will have to demonstrate what He can do without me. I mean, probably lots more. It's His grace that I'm here, that you're here, and that's true of everyone of us. Right? Paul died almost 2000 years ago, the church didn't die, did it. Peter's been gone for almost 2000 years, but the church is still here, isn't it. They were just servants, used of the Lord. And the church will continue on until Jesus Christ comes to take it into His very presence. Servants will come and go, but the church of Jesus Christ goes on. Praise God for that. I don't have to know what He'll do. I'm sure the church was shaken when Peter died, when Paul was martyred. But the Lord was still alive and raised up others that He had appointed for His work. Praise God this is His church, we are His servants, and it is His work to be done in the ministry of His truth—the mysteries of God.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a Savior and He is your Son, the one who died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Lord, I pray that we might be careful as a church, me personally as one entrusted with stewardship responsibilities, each of these in your church be careful that we see the church for what it is—your dwelling place, a holy place. That we are your servants to do your will in your way. May we be careful with your truth that we might be building with quality materials in order that you might be pleased with us as your servants. We pray in Christ's name, amen.